As a dry run to give us a sense of scale for the thrice-weekly meal plan, we made one meal this week consisting of a light salad and a heartier chicken plate. Next week we’ll ramp up to two meals, and then three per week from there on out.

“Cucumber” Salad

The recipe was called Cucumber Salad, but I don’t really like cucumbers, so we used a zucchini instead.

Ingredients

1 cucumber

We used a zucchini

2 tablespoons white vinegar

We used balsamic

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoons lemon juice

Not quite freshly squeezed

3/4 teaspoons salt + pepper

2 tablespoons olives

We chose black sliced olives

1 shallot

We used a piece of garlic

1/2 teaspoon oregano

From the spice rack

1 1/2 tablespoons almonds

We prefer cashews for their lighter texture and easier crunch, so we used them here

Finished Product

This was a light, satisfying salad – the complimentary flavors helped prepare us for the main course.

Slow Cooker Curried Chicken

We didn’t follow the recipe exactly – where’s the fun in that? This slow cooker meal was relatively quick to prepare – just 3 hours in the pot, and we even felt like that may have been on the well-done side.

Ingredients

1 onion

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon tomato paste

1/4 cup chicken broth

2 bone-in chicken breasts

2 tablespoons whole-milk yogurt

1 tablespoon cilantro

Finished Product

This was certainly a nice curried chicken. As typical with chicken dishes, the meat tended on the dry side, so we’ll probably dial back the time on the slow cooker by half an hour next time. Good flavors and a strong sense of curry, but it wasn’t out of the park (although it is photogenic).

Hello world! We’re Alex and Wendy and we’re kicking off 2018 by embarking on a cooking adventure. Our goal is to make 155 delicious dinners over the next year by cooking 3 meals a week out of a cooking-for-two cookbook. Stick around and see if we meat our goal!